Death of the Glossy Magazine
by Baby Kat Snophlake
Summary: The game had one fatal flaw: Klarth uses his book for defense. Finally, it came to bite him in the end. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. hehehe...


**EDIT-A/N (3-21-2010):** For those who have already reviewed, thank you, I truly appreciate your feedback. But if you are new to this story, please do not review unless you have **constructive criticism** to give me. I don't want to be told how good I am or how much I sucked if you don't have a reason for saying so. I'd rather you say nothing at all if you can't tell me why you liked or hated something. If I am out of character, if my writing sucks, if my plot sucks, if my description sucks, if my dialogue sucks, if my style sucks, if my vocabulary sucks, if I'm not interesting you, if I put in a deal-breaker, if I irritated a pet peeve, if I am missing something, if I don't meet expectation, if you think I have potential but have too much to say, if you wish I had done something--anything-- differently, if you just plain hate what I've done with a character, plot, action, description, suspense, if I failed at an attempt at using a writing tool, if I have spelling errors, if I repeat words, if I use the wrong word, if the first sentence didn't grab your attention and you want to hit the back button, if I have grammar errors, or any kind of errors at all for that matter, if something is wrong or doesn't feel right and you just can't put your finger on it, if you hate my title or summary, even if all you can say is, "you want to know why, but I'm not sure so I can't tell you. It just doesn't work" **with a copy of the quote that doesn't work for you**, please do me the honor of telling me so, even if it's in the form of an email, PM, or review, I don't care how you do it, just tell me. Yes, I am begging for concrit. But please don't leave feedback that simply says "that was good. Nice job." I want to know the **why**. Thank you.

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**Death of the Glossy magazine**

**By Baby Kat Snophlake**

Klarth licked his finger and turned the page. He shivered against the wall where he sat but otherwise ignored his surroundings completely. Their leader, Cless was doing a fine enough job on his own telling the other kids what to do. They didn't need Klarth to interfere. He glanced over the book just to be sure. Cless stood panting with the tip of his sword in the ground. He was sweating despite the ice chilling his armor. He seemed to be struggling under the weight, but it didn't take Mint long at all to notice his plight. She rested a hand on his chest while their friend, Chester stood guard with his bow at the ready.

Chester seemed very tired as well, but Mint would get to him rather quickly. Klarth returned to his book. As he suspected, the kids were fine.

"Woah!"

Klarth heard ice scraping and raised his eyes again. Cless had fallen, scuttling backwards like a crab until his hand fell upon his sword again. Encouraged, he stood holding his weapon before him, but his eyes fell back to glance at Klarth. "Did you summon Volt?"

"No." He sighed, standing. How could they not know the difference between Volt and any other monster? He steadied his hat, folded his book into the crook of his arm and stepped towards the others with careful grace. When he looked up again, a giant orb with huge white eyes was floating only a few feet in front of him. His eyes widened. "B-b-but, I didn't summon—" He paused. This orb was purple with pink lightening. "This isn't Volt!" The strands of pink energy running through the orb brightened and giant ball contracted, releasing a thin bolt of laser.

Klarth held up the only protection he had in his hands: his book. Everything else was stashed away in a backpack where it wasn't quickly accessible.

"Klarth! Look out!" Chester dove into the summoner's body, throwing them both aside. A loud pop exploded as the laser connected, disguising Klarth and Chester in an icy cloud.

Klarth groaned. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears and a loud voice hollering. He opened his eyes to Mint who was crowding over Chester. Klarth's hand stung. His arm was covered in ash and bits of paper and he paled as he glanced down to see the damage. His book, the necromancer now had a huge gaping hole through its binding and pages where the laser has gone completely through.

"NO!" He tore the remains open to find his glossy magazine shattered in the middle of his summoning book. All that was left of the women were their flowing manes and their legs from the knees down. His eye twitched, his mouth gaping open in a horrified frown. He didn't notice Mint kneeling before him.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" She laid a hand on his shoulder. His eyes slowly moved from the mess of pages in his hands to her worried eyes. For the first time in his life, he felt the need to weep openly as if he had lost a best friend. "Klarth?"

He couldn't answer. He only lifted the remains in his hands. He didn't dare look down as he felt the pages tear away from their bindings into uselessness.

"We can get you another book if you're so attached." Cless said, annoyed. "Be thankful you have your life."

"But… I got that in Euclid…" Klarth gritted his teeth and fisted his hands. Suddenly, the cave didn't feel very cold at all. He tore another summoning book from his backpack and flipped it open. His eyes flared as he stared down the pink Volt and in record time summoned Maxwell. When the creature didn't die, Klarth moved on to the next summon spirit he could think of. "Efreet!" And then, "Undine! Gnome!"

Chester stood in awe as summon spirits flew for the pink Volt, releasing every element of magic that Klarth had a pact with except the real Volt. Stalactites fell in increasing numbers, water dripped from the ceiling, and columns fell with such force, no one could stand properly and eventually they all fell from an unearthly quake.

Klarth stood to stance and continued shouting names, summoning again the spirits that performed their spells and left until finally, the pink Volt had fallen. He stood panting over the spot where the ball of energy once floated and spat down on the empty grave. "We aren't heading back to Euclid, 4202 anytime soon! I can't get a new one!" He clapped his book shut, turned on his heel, and stormed down the passageway. He stepped around the fallen stalactites, melting them as he passed, and disappeared around a distant corner in the cave.

Cless, Chester, and Mint exchanged glances of mixed worry and awe.

"Well," Cless said. "At least he can't use his glossy magazines as an excuse not to fight anymore."

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**A/N:** Haha, I was sitting at the airport in Baltimore when I thought of this. I was playing ToP and this very monster attacked Klarth with his laser and all he did was use his book to guard himself. I laughed at this saying that the book wouldn't be good enough for a shield because the laser would go right through it. Then I thought of his "glossy magazine". I burst out laughing and my friend gave me a weird look. The idea had been born. Good thing a kitten can write without use of the internet. I would've died trying to remember what was so funny.

Also, I apologize for any OoC'd ness. I don't know these guys as well as I know the Symphonians. I also apologize for the leaving out of Arche. For some reason I always forget about her in everything. I just couldn't see where I could squeeze her in without rewriting the whole thing. Oh well...

--Kat


End file.
